US Quietly Drops Out of Ukraine War Crimes Probe, Easing Pressure on Putin

The US Justice Department has quietly informed European officials that it will withdraw from an international group investigating those responsible for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, including President Vladimir Putin.

According to The New York Times (NYT), citing sources, this decision signals a shift under the Trump administration away from President Joe Biden’s efforts to hold Putin accountable for crimes committed against Ukrainians.

The group, known as the International Center for the Prosecution of the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine, was formed to investigate Russian leadership, as well as its allies in Belarus, North Korea, and Iran.

The US joined under Biden in 2023, becoming the only non-European nation to cooperate with the effort. A senior Justice Department prosecutor had been stationed in The Hague to work alongside investigators from Ukraine, the Baltic states, and Romania.

Officials familiar with the situation told NYT the US decision to withdraw will be formally announced on Monday via an email from Eurojust, the European Union’s agency for criminal justice cooperation.

The Trump administration has not provided a specific reason, only citing a general need to redeploy resources.

At the same time, the administration is scaling back the Justice Department’s War Crimes Accountability Team (WarCAT), established in 2022 to help Ukraine prosecute Russian war crimes. The team had provided logistical support, training, and legal assistance to overwhelmed Ukrainian prosecutors.

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WarCAT made headlines in December 2023 when US prosecutors, for the first time in nearly 30 years, used a war crimes statute to charge four Russian soldiers in absentia for torturing an American in Ukraine’s Kherson region.

According to AFP, to hold Russia accountable, Ukrainian and international investigators are working to document thousands of war-related abuses. Kyiv reports that it is investigating over 140,000 potential war crimes.

In early February, the European Union announced that experts from 37 countries had agreed on the legal foundations for a special tribunal to try Russia for its war in Ukraine.

While proposals for such a court have been discussed for over two years, progress has been slow due to legal debates.

The return of US President Donald Trump to the White House has accelerated efforts, as European officials fear his peace plans could shield Moscow from justice, as outlined by AFP.

The tribunal will focus on the “crime of aggression,” a charge the International Criminal Court (ICC) cannot address. Final technical work on the tribunal’s legal framework is expected soon.